1940 – 1949
1940s
- 1905 – March 31, 1941The United States takes over Dominican customs to repay foreign creditors
After the Roosevelt Corollary of December 1904, a US-appointed receiver collects the Dominican customs from 1905, with a 1907 treaty and a 1924 convention extending it. It ends on 31 March 1941 under the Trujillo-Hull convention.
- 1942Wycliffe Bible Translators is founded to translate Scripture into every language
In 1942 William Cameron Townsend founds Wycliffe Bible Translators in the United States. Its alliance now aims to start translation in every language that still lacks one; Scripture exists in over 4,000 languages.
- September 30, 1943Pius XII's Divino afflante Spiritu endorses critical Bible study
On 30 September 1943 Pope Pius XII's encyclical urges Catholic translations from the original Hebrew and Greek rather than the Vulgate, and permits textual and historical-critical methods.
- 1945The Nag Hammadi library is found in Egypt
In late 1945 a cache of twelve papyrus codices, plus loose leaves of a thirteenth, is found near Nag Hammadi. The Coptic texts include Gnostic works and the only complete Gospel of Thomas.
- 1946 – 1956The Dead Sea Scrolls are found at Qumran
From late 1946 Bedouin shepherds and then excavators recover about 15,000 scrolls and fragments from caves near Qumran, until 1956. Dating from c. 3rd century BCE to 1st century CE, they include the oldest biblical manuscripts known.
- 1947Haiti makes its final payment on the independence debt, 122 years after the ordinance
In 1947 Haiti finishes paying the debts that began in 1825, according to a 2022 New York Times analysis cited by Wikipedia. A US State Department release that year notes a $10 million Haitian internal loan, used partly to redeem the 1922 and 1923 bonds.